Scomberomorus cavalla, King mackerel : fisheries, gamefish
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Scomberomorus cavalla (Cuvier, 1829)

King mackerel
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Scomberomorus cavalla   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Scomberomorus cavalla
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Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Scombriformes (Mackerels) > Scombridae (Mackerels, tunas, bonitos) > Scombrinae
Etymology: Scomberomorus: Latin, scomber = mackerel + Greek, moros = silly, stupid (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Cuvier.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; pelagic-neritic; oceanodromous (Ref. 51243); depth range 5 - 140 m (Ref. 36484), usually 5 - 15 m (Ref. 40849). Tropical; 44°N - 22°S, 98°W - 34°W (Ref. 54879)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Western Atlantic: Canada (Ref. 5951) to Massachusetts, USA to São Paulo, Brazil. Eastern Central Atlantic: St. Paul's Rocks (Ref. 13121).

Length at first maturity / Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm 64.8, range 45 - 114 cm
Max length : 184 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 9710); common length : 70.0 cm FL male/unsexed; (Ref. 168); max. published weight: 45.0 kg (Ref. 168); max. reported age: 26 years (Ref. 128047)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 12 - 18; Dorsal soft rays (total): 15-18; Anal spines: 0; Anal soft rays: 16 - 20; Vertebrae: 41 - 43. Interpelvic process small and bifid. Swim bladder absent. Lateral line abruptly curving downward below second dorsal fin. Intestine with 2 folds and 3 limbs. Adults have no black area on the anterior part of the first dorsal fin. Juveniles with bronze spots in 5 or 6 irregular rows. Body entirely covered with scales.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Often found in outer reef areas. Larvae are encountered in surface waters of 26.3° to 31°C and 26.9 to 35 ppt. Feeds primarily on fishes with smaller quantities of penaeid shrimps and squids. Large schools have been found to migrate over considerable distances along the Atlantic US coast, water temperature permitting. It is an important species for recreational, commercial, and artisanal fisheries throughout its range. Most of the catch is processed into steaks or sold fresh, or sometimes canned and salted. Also prepared smoked and frozen (Ref. 9987). Potentially ciguatoxic in certain areas (Ref. 9710). Sometimes called "Kingfish" (Ref. 13442).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : Collette, Bruce B. | Collaborators

Collette, B.B. and C.E. Nauen, 1983. FAO Species Catalogue. Vol. 2. Scombrids of the world. An annotated and illustrated catalogue of tunas, mackerels, bonitos and related species known to date. Rome: FAO. FAO Fish. Synop. 125(2):137 p. (Ref. 168)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 18 October 2022

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Reports of ciguatera poisoning (Ref. 9710)





Human uses

Fisheries: commercial; gamefish: yes
FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | FIRMS - Stock assessments | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Ciguatera
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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Fisheries: landings, species profile; Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | GoMexSI (interaction data) | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | OceanAdapt | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 23.5 - 28.1, mean 27.2 °C (based on 1034 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00912 (0.00713 - 0.01166), b=3.02 (2.98 - 3.06), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this species (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.4   ±0.3 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 6.1 (4.5 - 7.3) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 31 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (K=0.07-0.15; tm=2; tmax=14; Fec=70,000).
Prior r = 0.66, 95% CL = 0.43 - 0.99, Based on 5 stock assessments.
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (48 of 100).
Climate Vulnerability (Ref. 125649):  Moderate to high vulnerability (55 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 20.3 [9.2, 71.9] mg/100g; Iron = 0.707 [0.314, 1.640] mg/100g; Protein = 20.6 [19.4, 21.9] %; Omega3 = 0.238 [0.149, 0.393] g/100g; Selenium = 74.7 [27.2, 232.8] μg/100g; VitaminA = 17.7 [4.4, 77.8] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.568 [0.380, 0.903] mg/100g (wet weight); based on nutrient studies.